Teddy Bear With A Mohawk
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day twenty-four: Puck helps his sister with a project, which makes him think about his situation with Quinn.


_So the hiatus is over, I did my twenty-one ficlets and all... but I didn't want to stop ;) So I'm not! I want to see how long I can keep this up, one every day, so off we go :)_

* * *

**"Teddy Bear With A Mohawk"  
Puck & Sister (+Puck/Quinn-ness)**

It was supremely not uncommon for him to arrive home to find his sister sitting at the window. When she'd see him come, she'd smile and give him a wave. He'd wave back and then she'd dash away, back to her homework.

On that day though, she was not only in the window, she was sitting anxiously… she wanted something. When he waved to her, she hopped away from the window and was standing right by the door when he came in, ready to grab on to his arm.

"Noah, Noah!" she started.

"Hello, young Puckerman," he greeted her, putting his things down.

"Noah, guess what!"

"Did you grow a tail?" he obliged. She laughed, shook her head. "So you're not running away to join the circus then. Shame, I could have used your room," he teased. "Okay, I give up. Tell me." She shook her head, 'disappointed.'

"We have show and tell next week and we have to bring in something we like to do, something that's special, and I thought about it and thought about it and I found it, I found my thing to show, but I need your help to practice, please?" she finished her single-breath speech, hanging off her big brother's arms.

"What are you practicing?" he asked, showing the patience only harnessed by the tiny brunette currently stretching his shirt sleeves… She had an iron grip.

At his question, she released him and dashed over to her room. Puck took up his bag to get it to his own room.

"Noah?" he heard from the hall.

"In here," he called. She came in, holding a sheet of paper. He held out his hand, and she gave him the sheet, bouncing on her heels with an innocent smile. "What is it?" he asked, looking down at the sheet.

'It'… 'they' were the lyrics to a song. He looked up and saw her hovering around his guitar, which was leaning against the wall. When she looked back at him, he chuckled.

"Alright," he handed back the sheet, reached for the guitar. She squealed, putting the sheet down and moving her hair behind her ears.

He'd never even heard her sing, didn't actually know it interested her in any way. So this would mean one of two things: It would either be a complete disaster, or a complete surprise. She looked happy, giddy, which wasn't beyond expectation with her, but this was new… it was something he recognized, the way he felt about the music.

"Ready?" he asked her. She gave a confident little sideways smile, nodded. He threw her back a smile and started to play.

He was keeping his eye on her, to maybe give her the signal to go, but he could see she was ready. And when she started to sing, he smirked. It was far from disaster. He gave her as much energy as he could through playing, and she responded accordingly.

As she finished her song, he nodded. "Alright, wow…" he held his hand up and she high-fived him. "You'll knock them all dead."

"Yeah?" she asked, full of nervous hope.

"Yeah. You knocked me dead," he made a 'dead' face and she laughed. "Glad you're enjoying your killing me," he teased and she went on laughing. After a moment, she got serious.

"What if they laugh at me?" she asked. He didn't like to see her in pain. After their father had left, it had become his duty to look out for his little sister.

He put his guitar down, taking her hands. "Forget about them. If you like it, then it's not about them, so who cares?" he shrugged. He wondered what he would have told her in that moment if he hadn't been in Glee Club now. Would he have told her not to bother, to keep her singing to herself?

"Are you sure?" she asked. He nodded.

"Definitely," he bowed his head. "I could go with you, make sure they all behave," he made his 'tough guy' face. It brought her back to laughter, which was always where he preferred her.

"I think I can handle it," she finally nodded, confident again.

"That's right," he gave her a smile. She moved up to hug him.

"Thanks, Noah," she pulled back before running off, no doubt to do her homework.

Puck got up, reaching for his guitar and putting it back in place. As he did, his mind wandered off to something he actually hadn't thought about since he'd come home to an eager girl.

He thought about another girl, the one presently growing inside Quinn. His sister was his sister, and he was her brother, but again because of their father's departure, he'd had to be more. And maybe because of that, he felt less fear toward whatever was to come but a willingness to go ahead and deal with whatever came his way.

For the moment, it didn't mean as much, not when Quinn wouldn't even acknowledge his role in the matter. He was a non-factor… ready to act but kept from it.

He couldn't force Quinn to change her mind, nor would he. Still, he would keep being there for her, keep trying to help. Maybe she'd eventually come to see what he already knew, see that… He would be there for that little girl in a heartbeat, be there in any capacity that was needed of him.

Looking back to the guitar, he nodded inwardly, taking it and going out in search of his sister. He found her, as predicted, doing homework. He took a seat on the chair on the other side of the table, absently plucking at the strings, waiting… He could see his sister's eyes start to deviate from her work, drawn in by the notes.

"Want to run through it again? I think we can make it even better." He looked at, seeing her 'hesitate' before putting her pencil down and getting up.

"Get ready to be knocked re-dead," she nodded, making him laugh.

THE END


End file.
